Uchiha's personal opinion

The salamander fish-like creatures provided cover for the Rain Ninja's formation.

Hanzo the Salamander himself stood still, unmoved.

Under Orochimaru's command, the Konoha ninja slowly flanked the area from both sides.

The Salamander Ibuki managed to spray poison gas to hinder the advance of the Konoha ninja, but the poison gas was quickly neutralized by the rain and the Konoha ninja's ninjutsu, and thus failed to stop them.

"Really..."

Hanzo the Salamander sighed again.

He suddenly strode forward and charged towards Shimura Danzo.

"Water Release: Water Tornado!"

The wildly swirling scythe, carrying raindrops, crashed into Danzo under the influence of chakra.

Danzo, showing no weakness, engaged in a fierce battle with Hanzo of the Salamander, aided by Root ninjas.

One is a peerless expert known as "Hanzo," who has never been defeated in his campaigns; the other is "The Dark One of the Ninja," born into a prestigious family, whose infamous reputation can stop children from crying at night.

Although Hanzo of the Salamander was much stronger, he had been greatly exhausted in the battle against Sunagakure on the western front and had only recently recovered. In addition, he had already gone through a round of fighting, so even if he conserved his chakra, he was still somewhat tired.

Danzo, on the other hand, had been waiting in ambush. After obtaining detailed battle intelligence from Hanzo of the Salamander, he had made targeted deployments. In addition, he had powerful Jonin subordinates to assist him, and for a time he was able to fight Hanzo of the Salamander to a standstill.

After Orochimaru and the other two discussed the matter, Orochimaru stayed behind to command the ninja army, while Tsunade and Jiraiya led their troops to press towards the flanks of the Rain Village.

"Spiritual communication!"

Two huge plumes of smoke rose up. A giant toad and a giant slug were summoned and rushed toward the salamander Ibuki, who was spraying poison gas.

The most effective way to deal with large summoned beasts is also to use large summoned beasts themselves.

Hanzo the Salamander, who was in the middle of the battle, noticed this scene and swung his katana and kusarigama even faster and more quickly.

Danzo defended steadily against Hanzo's fierce attacks. As long as he could hold Hanzo back, the destruction of Amegakure would be a foregone conclusion.

"Water Release: Exploding Water Wave!"

After forcing two Root Jonin away with his scythe, Hanzo of the Salamander disregarded the consumption of chakra and unleashed a massive wave that swept towards Danzo in front and the Konoha ninja army behind him.

Faced with the water-style ninjutsu that was almost devastating, the Konoha ninjas behind them quickly scattered, while Danzo remained unmoved and joined forces with the Root Jonin to launch a counter-ninjutsu.

The Konoha ninjas behind him need time to dodge. If he also manages to avoid it, his side will suffer heavy casualties and will be subject to much criticism after the battle.

"Earth Escape Technique: Earth City Wall!"

But the next second, the towering earthen wall crumbled rapidly under the crashing waves, its momentum undiminished as it continued to surge forward.

After struggling to withstand several waves, Danzo had no choice but to leap backward in an attempt to avoid the water-style wave attack.

The Root ninjas bravely braved the crashing waves, attempting to entangle Hanzo the Salamander so that Danzo could escape.

Hanzo of the Salamander swiftly formed hand seals with his left hand, his body swaying as he transformed into three figures. One figure remained in place, continuing to entangle with the Root ninja, while the other two figures charged towards the retreating Danzo.

The Root ninjas were shocked. Two of them stayed behind to keep Hanzo occupied while the others quickly returned to help.

Unexpectedly, just as they retreated, the two Root ninjas left behind were swiftly beheaded by Hanzo of the Salamander, while the other two figures were pierced by kunai casually thrown by Danzo, turning into two wisps of green smoke.

It was just a very ordinary clone!

A phantom clone with absolutely no combat power.

Danzo was so angry his nose was practically crooked.

"Kill him! I'm going to kill him!"

Feeling betrayed, Danzo roared and charged forward again.

Overwhelmed with guilt, the Root ninjas immediately launched a defensive charge.

Despite being surrounded and attacked by Root ninjas, Hanzo of the Salamander parried left and right, but his steps continued towards Danzo.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Sword!"

Danzo spotted a weakness in Hanzo's defenses and immediately launched a sneak attack using ninjutsu, followed by a Body Flicker Technique to advance and launch his own attack.

The silent vacuum sword struck Hanzo the Salamander squarely in the chest!

"bingo!"

Danzo's bitter face quickly transformed into a radiant smile.

A blade of light shot out from the ground, heading straight for Danzo's groin.

Caught off guard, Danzo had no choice but to forcefully jump to the side to avoid the slashing blade.

However, his right leg and right hand were not able to completely avoid the blade's strike and were severed in one blow.

As he fell, his gaze fell upon Hanzo, who was being attacked by Root ninjas not far away, and he exploded into a cloud of blue smoke.

This time it's a shadow clone!

Danzo was so angry he almost fainted.

Meanwhile, outside the battlefield, Uchiha Tokumitsu, who was listening to the Byakugan ninja recount the situation, overheard this scene and burst into laughter, taking a sip of rainwater.

"It looks great!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu spat out the rainwater in his mouth and smiled as he spoke to Hatake Sakumo, who was eager to try.

Chapter 97 The Demigod Power Standing at the Pinnacle of the Ninja World

Seeing Danzo severely injured and defeated, his Root ninjas immediately rushed towards Hanzo the Salamander like madmen, without any self-defense measures, completely willing to sacrifice their lives to save Hanzo so that Danzo could escape danger.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru, who was directing operations from the rear, and Tsunade and Jiraiya, who were commanding the Konoha ninja forces on both flanks, could no longer stand still. They hastily handed over command to their subordinates and immediately returned to provide reinforcements.

Even though the two of them usually disliked their senior apprentice, Danzo Shimura, they still stepped forward to help in this critical moment.

Just as Hanzo was about to finish off Danzo with a single blow, he had no choice but to turn around and use his left hand to parry the Root ninja's desperate attack, while casually swinging his scythe with his right hand to disembowel him.

"...Sizzle..."

A familiar burning sound came from behind the Root ninja.

It's an explosive tag!

Hanzo the Salamander kicked the half-dead Root ninja away with a single kick, then quickly used the Water Body Flicker Technique to escape the range of the explosive tags.

However, there was no explosion.

The Root ninjas were merely posing as if to detonate explosive tags, hoping to force Hanzo, the Salamander, to open.

Danzo, whose right hand and right foot had been severed, was picked up by several of his subordinates and carried away.

Another slightly more clever Root ninja, having missed out on the great credit for saving the man, picked up Danzo's leg and ran back as well.

"My hand! My hand!"

Danzo shouted loudly.

The other Root ninjas who were covering the retreat suddenly realized what was happening and rushed toward Danzo's severed hand.

Hanzo the Salamander casually tossed a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag toward Danzo's severed hand, severely injuring one of the Root ninjas who was desperately trying to retrieve the severed hand.

The severed hand was taken away by the other Root ninjas during their retreat.

"Speaking of Danzo, although he's a bad person, his subordinates are quite loyal, aren't they?"

In the distance, the Hyuga Byakugan ninja in charge of reconnaissance and storytelling vividly described the scene, and Uchiha Tokumitsu couldn't help but sigh.

"Even Danzo has some redeeming qualities..."

Sakumo Hatake answered calmly.

"Hmm... even Danzo!"

This answer was very insightful, and Uchiha Tokumitsu was very satisfied.

The battlefield remains in a tense standoff, but the intensity of the fighting has begun to decrease.

With Commander Danzo seriously injured and forced to withdraw from the battle, the Konoha ninjas began to slow down their efforts to kill the remaining Amegakure ninjas. A large number of Jonin withdrew voluntarily, and Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya surrounded Hanzo of the Salamander.

"Worthy of being stored away!"

Hanzo the Salamander shouted at the Rain Ninja formation behind him.

"exist!"

A middle-aged Jonin from the Rain Ninja Army immediately responded.

"You lead the retreat; Ibuki will cooperate with you." Hanzo of the Salamander made no attempt to conceal his decision, his eyes constantly fixed on the ever-growing group of Konoha Jonin. "I'll cover the rear!"

Orochimaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the other Konoha Jonin had unusually gloomy expressions.

Hanzo of the Salamander clearly didn't take them seriously, acting as if he could come and go as he pleased, which greatly displeased these arrogant Konoha Jonin.

The Salamander, Ibuki, sprayed poison with all his might, forcing back the Konoha ninja army and opening a retreat route for the remaining Amegakure forces.

The Konoha ninja who had not taken the antidote beforehand could only watch helplessly as the Amegakure ninja retreated.

However, Hanzo himself was still surrounded by a group of Konoha Jonin.

"Twenty-seven Jonin..."

Hanzo the Salamander glanced at the Konoha Jonin who were preparing to join the encirclement and kill, and felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

As the leader of the five great nations and five great ninja villages, Konoha's strength was clearly revealed at this moment.

Of the twenty-seven Jonin, none in the entire Rain Village could match them, solely in terms of chakra fluctuations and the formidable prowess they displayed. Even his most trusted Jonin from the Salamander clan were far inferior.

The rain continued.

The cold rain indifferently washed away the bloodstains from the battlefield.

Hanzo the Salamander, leaning on his sickle, single-handedly held off more than four thousand Konoha ninja soldiers.

The remaining forces of the Rain Ninja have gradually retreated into the distance.

The main force of the Konoha Ninja Army also withdrew from the battlefield, with the Jonin from various units withdrawing to set up blocking positions on the perimeter.

For the Konoha ninja, the remnants of the Rain Village were not a concern; any Konoha ninja squad could easily wipe them out with minimal losses. The most important target was Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of the Rain Village and the spiritual pillar of the Land of Rain. If they could kill him, the entire Land of Rain would be Konoha's for the taking!

"I remember there was information about you in the intelligence. You're Sarutobi's apprentices, right?" Hanzo the Salamander said to Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

The other Konoha Jonin were strong, but he didn't take them seriously.